Post #169134 by KuKuAhu on Fri, Jul 1, 2005 7:41 AM

I think I can help you out.

Once while traveling, my wife and two friends of ours had a taste for a flaming coconaut re-entry. Now we had a pretty good bar going there on the island, what with rum being cheap and plentiful, but all we could find locally at the time was coconut milk. No cream of coconut was on the shelves in the only grocery store.

So I improvised and tried to turn that coconut milk into a faux Lopez (hey, we had the time, and we wanted those drinks).

I slowly heated two cans of coconut milk on the stove, and reduced the amount about a third. Then I added sugar. A lot of sugar. Kinda like making bar syrup.

Now you gotta watch it to make sure it doesn't foam up too much and boil over, or burn.

I also skimmed the foam off the top and pitched it.

Once the sugar was all disolved, I let it cool and wound up with a very thick cream of coconut that frankly looked and tasted remarkably like Lopez.

It was a bit of a hassle to make, but I really enjoyed the challenge, and it was awfully good stuff. I'd try it again just because it tasted a bit fresher than Lopez... but that could have been my imagination.

Those coconauts were even better than usual.

For those without access to Lopez, but access to coconut milk, this is the way to go. Would this work with coconut cream? Yeah, I suspect it would. Just add some water maybe. Mess around until you get it right.

If you want, I might be persuaded to mail you a can of Lopez so you know what it tastes like in order to recreate it at home.

Let me know.

Ahu